Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), affects more than 16 million Americans and is the fourth highest cause of death in the United States. Cigarette smoking causes most occurrences of the debilitating disease but other environmental factors cannot be excluded (Petty T L. 2003. Definition, epidemiology, course, and prognosis of COPD. Clin. Cornerstone, 5-10).
Pulmonary emphysema is a major manifestation of COPD. Permanent destruction of peripheral air spaces, distal to terminal bronchioles, is the hallmark of emphysema (Tuder R M, et al. Oxidative stress and apoptosis interact and cause emphysema due to vascular endothelial growth factor blocade. Am J Respir Cell Mol Biol, 29:88-97; 2003.). Emphysema is also characterized by accumulation of inflammatory cells such as macrophages and neutrophils in bronchioles and alveolar structures (Petty, 2003).
The pathogenesis of emphysema is complex and multifactorial. In humans, a deficiency of inhibitors of proteases produced by inflammatory cells, such as alpha1-antitrypsin, has been shown to contribute to protease/antiprotease imbalance, thereby favoring destruction of alveolar extracellular matrix in cigarette-smoke (CS) induced emphysema (Eriksson, S. 1964. Pulmonary Emphysema and Alpha1-Antitrypsin Deficiency. Acta Med Scand 175:197-205. Joos, L., Pare, P. D., and Sandford, A. J. 2002. Genetic risk factors of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Swiss Med Wkly 132:27-37). Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) play a central role in experimental emphysema, as documented by resistance of macrophage metalloelastase knockout mice against emphysema caused by chronic inhalation of CS (Hautamaki, et al: Requirement for macrophage elastase for cigarette smoke-induced emphysema in mice. Science 277:2002-2004). Moreover, pulmonary overexpression of interleukin-13 in transgenic mice results in MMP- and cathepsin-dependent emphysema (Zheng, T., et al 2000. Inducible targeting of IL-13 to the adult lung causes matrix metalloproteinase-and cathepsin-dependent emphysema. J Clin Invest 106:1081-1093). Recent works describe involvement of septal cell apoptosis in lung tissue destruction leading to emphysema (Rangasami T. et al. Genetic ablation of Nrf2 enhances susceptibility to cigarette smoke-induced emphysema in mice. Submitted to Journal of Clinical Investigation.; Tuder R M et al. Oxidative stress and apoptosis interact and cause emphysema due to vascular endothelial growth factor blocade. Am J Respir Cell Mol Biol, 29:88-97; 2003.; Yokohori N, Aoshiba K, Nagai A, Increased levels of cell death and proliferation in alveolar wall cells in patients with pulmonary emphysema. Chest. 2004 February; 125(2):626-32.; Aoshiba K, Yokohori N, Nagai A., Alveolar wall apoptosis causes lung destruction and emphysematous changes. Am J Respir Cell Mol. Biol. 2003 May; 28(5):555-62.).
Among the mechanisms that underlie both pathways of lung destruction in emphysema, excessive formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) should be first of all mentioned. It is well established that prooxidant/antioxidant imbalance exists in the blood and in the lung tissue of smokers (Hulea S A, et al: Cigarette smoking causes biochemical changes in blood that are suggestive of oxidative stress: a case-control study. J Environ Pathol Toxicol Oncol. 1995; 14(3-4):173-80.; Rahman I, MacNee W. Lung glutathione and oxidative stress: implications in cigarette smoke-induced airway disease. Am J Physiol. 1999 December; 277(6 Pt 1):L1067-88.; MacNee W. Oxidants/antioxidants and COPD. Chest. 2000 May; 117(5 Suppl 1):303S-17S.; Marwick J A, Kirkham P, Gilmour P S, Donaldson K, MacNEE W, Rahman I. Cigarette smoke-induced oxidative stress and TGF-beta1 increase p21waf1/cip1 expression in alveolar epithelial cells. Ann N Y Acad. Sci. 2002 November; 973:278-83.; Aoshiba K, Koinuma M, Yokohori N, Nagai A. Immunohistochemical evaluation of oxidative stress in murine lungs after cigarette smoke exposure. Inhal Toxicol. 2003 September; 15(10):1029-38.; Dekhuijzen P N. Antioxidant properties of N-acetylcysteine: their relevance in relation to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Eur Respir J. 2004 April; 23(4):629-36.; Tuder R M, Zhen L, Cho C Y, Taraseviciene-Stewart L, Kasahara Y, Salvemini D, Voelkel N F, and Flores S C. Oxidative stress and apoptosis interact and cause emphysema due to vascular endothelial growth factor blocade. Am J Respir Cell Mol Biol, 29:88-97; 2003.). After one hour exposure of mice to CS, there is a dramatic increase of 8-hydroxy-2′-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) in the alveolar epithelial cells, particularly of type II (see Inhal Toxicol. 2003 September; 15(10):1029-38. above).
Overproduced reactive oxygen species are known for their cytotoxic activity, which stems from a direct DNA damaging effect and from the activation of apoptotic signal transduction pathways (Takahashi A, Masuda A, Sun M, Centonze V E, Herman B. Oxidative stress-induced apoptosis is associated with alterations in mitochondrial caspase activity and Bcl-2-dependent alterations in mitochondrial pH (pHm). Brain Res Bull. 2004 Feb. 15; 62(6):497-504.; Taniyama Y, Griendling K K. Reactive oxygen species in the vasculature: molecular and cellular mechanisms. Hypertension. 2003 December; 42(6):1075-81. Epub 2003 Oct. 27.; Higuchi Y. Chromosomal DNA fragmentation in apoptosis and necrosis induced by oxidative stress. Biochem Pharmacol. 2003 Oct. 15; 66(8):1527-35.; Punj V, Chakrabarty A M. Redox proteins in mammalian cell death: an evolutionarily conserved function in mitochondria and prokaryotes. Cell Microbiol. 2003 April; 5(4):225-31.; Ueda S, Masutani H, Nakamura H, Tanaka T, Ueno M, Yodoi J. Redox control of cell death. Antioxid Redox Signal. 2002 June; 4(3):405-14.).
ROS's are not only cytotoxic per se but are also proinflammatory stimuli, being prominent activators of redox-sensitive transcription factors NFkB and AP-1 (reviewed in Rahman I. Oxidative stress and gene transcription in asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: antioxidant therapeutic targets. Curr Drug Targets Inflamm Allergy. 2002 September; 1(3):291-315.). Both transcription factors are, in turn, strongly implicated in stimulation of transcription of proinflammatory cytokines (reviewed in Renard P, Raes M. The proinflammatory transcription factor NFkappaB: a potential target for novel therapeutical strategies. Cell Biol Toxicol. 1999; 15(6):341-4.; Lentsch A B, Ward P A. The NFkappaBb/IkappaB system in acute inflammation. Arch Immunol Ther Exp (Warsz). 2000; 48(2):59-63) and matrix degrading proteinases (Andela V B, Gordon A H, Zotalis G, Rosier R N, Goater J J, Lewis G D, Schwarz E M, Puzas J E, O'Keefe R J. NFkappaB: a pivotal transcription factor in prostate cancer metastasis to bone. Clin Orthop. 2003 October; (415 Suppl):S75-85.; Fleenor D L, Pang I H, Clark A F. Involvement of AP-1 in interleukin-1alpha-stimulated MMP-3 expression in human trabecular meshwork cells. Invest Opthalmol V is Sci. 2003 August; 44(8):3494-501.; Ruhul Amin A R, Senga T, Oo M L, Thant A A, Hamaguchi M. Secretion of matrix metalloproteinase-9 by the proinflammatory cytokine, IL-1beta: a role for the dual signalling pathways, Akt and Erk. Genes Cells. 2003 June; 8(6):515-23.). Proinflammatory cytokines, in turn, serve as attractors of inflammatory cells that also secrete matrix degrading enzymes, cytokines and reactive oxygen species. Thus, it appears that a pathogenic factor, like e.g. CS, triggers a pathological network where reactive oxygen species act as major mediators of lung destruction.
Both reactive oxygen species (ROS) from inhaled cigarette smoke and those endogenously formed by inflammatory cells contribute to an increased intrapulmonary oxidant burden.
One additional pathogenic factor with regards to COPD pathogenesis is the observed decreased expression of VEGF and VEGFRII in lungs of emphysematous patients (Yasunori Kasahara, Rubin M. Tuder, Carlyne D. Cool, David A. Lynch, Sonia C. Flores, and Norbert F. Voelkel. Endothelial Cell Death and Decreased Expression of Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor and Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Receptor 2 in Emphysema. Am J Respir Crit Care Med Vol 163. pp 737-744, 2001). Moreover, inhibition of VEGF signaling using chemical VEGFR inhibitor leads to alveolar septal endothelial and then to epithelial cell apoptosis, probably due to disruption of intimate structural/functional connection of both types of cells within alveoli (Yasunori Kasahara, Rubin M. Tuder, Laimute Taraseviciene-Stewart, Timothy D. Le Cras, Steven Abman, Peter K. Hirth, Johannes Waltenberger, and Norbert F. Voelkel. Inhibition of VEGF receptors causes lung cell apoptosis and emphysema. J. Clin. Invest. 106:1311-1319 (2000).; Voelkel N F, Cool C D. Pulmonary vascular involvement in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Eur Respir J. Suppl. 2003 November; 46:28s-32s).
Macular Degeneration
The most common cause of decreased best-corrected vision in individuals over 65 years of age in the US is the retinal disorder known as age-related macular degeneration (AMD). As AMD progresses, the disease is characterized by loss of sharp, central vision. The area of the eye affected by AMD is the Macula—a small area in the center of the retina, composed primarily of photoreceptor cells. So-called “dry” AMD, accounting for about 85%-90% of AMD patients, involves alterations in eye pigment distribution, loss of photoreceptors and diminished retinal function due to overall atrophy of cells. So-called “wet” AMD involves proliferation of abnormal choroidal vessels leading to clots or scars in the sub-retinal space. Thus, the onset of wet AMD occurs because of the formation of an abnormal choroidal neovascular network (choroidal neovascularization, CNV) beneath the neural retina. The newly formed blood vessels are excessively leaky. This leads to accumulation of subretinal fluid and blood leading to loss of visual acuity. Eventually, there is total loss of functional retina in the involved region, as a large disciform scar involving choroids and retina forms. While dry AMD patients may retain vision of decreased quality, wet AMD often results in blindness. (Hamdi & Kenney, Age-related Macular degeneration—a new viewpoint, Frontiers in Bioscience, e305-314, May 2003). CNV occurs not only in wet AMD but also in other ocular pathologies such as ocular histoplasmosis syndrome, angiod streaks, ruptures in Bruch's membrane, myopic degeneration, ocular tumors and some retinal degenerative diseases.
Various studies conducted have determined several risk factors for AMD, such as smoking, aging, family history (Milton, Am J Opthalmol 88, 269 (1979); Mitchell et al., Opthalmology 102, 1450-1460 (1995); Smith et al., Opthalmology 108, 697-704 (2001)) sex (7-fold higher likelihood in females: Klein et al., Opthalmology 99, 933-943 (1992) and race (whites are most susceptible). Additional risk factors may include eye characteristics such as farsightedness (hyperopia) and light-colored eyes, as well as cardiovascular disease and hypertension. Evidence of genetic involvement in the onset progression of the disease has also been documented (see Hamdi & Kenney above).
Two companies, Acuity Pharmaceuticals and Sirna Therapeutics, have both recently filed an IND for siRNA molecules inhibiting VEGF and VEGF-R1 (Flt-1), respectively, for treatment of AMD. These molecules are termed Cand5 inhibitor and 027 inhibitor respectively.
Glaucoma
Glaucoma is one of the leading causes of blindness in the world. It affects approximately 66.8 million people worldwide. At least 12,000 Americans are blinded by this disease each year (Kahn and Milton, Am J. Epidemiol. 1980 111(6):769-76). Glaucoma is characterized by the degeneration of axons in the optic nerve head, primarily due to elevated intraocular pressure (IOP). One of the most common forms of glaucoma, known as primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG), results from the increased resistance of aqueous humor outflow in the trabecular meshwork (TM), causing IOP elevation and eventual optic nerve damage.
Microvascular Disorders
Microvascular disorders are composed of a broad group of conditions that primarily affect the microscopic capillaries and lymphatics and are therefore outside the scope of direct surgical intervention. Microvascular disease can be broadly grouped into the vasospastic, the vasculitis and lymphatic occlusive. Additionally, many of the known vascular conditions have a microvascular element to them.                Vasospastic Disease—Vasospastic diseases are a group of relatively common conditions where, for unknown reasons, the peripheral vasoconstrictive reflexes are hypersensitive. This results in inappropriate vasoconstriction and tissue ischaemia, even to the point of tissue loss. Vasospastic symptoms are usually related to temperature or the use of vibrating machinery but may be secondary to other conditions.        Vasculitic Disease—Vasculitic diseases are those that involve a primary inflammatory process in the microcirculation. Vasculitis is usually a component of an autoimmune or connective tissue disorder and is not generally amenable to surgical treatment but requires immunosuppressive treatment if the symptoms are severe.        Lymphatic Occlusive Disease—Chronic swelling of the lower or upper limb (lymphoedema) is the result of peripheral lymphatic occlusion. This is a relatively rare condition that has a large number of causes, some inherited, some acquired. The mainstays of treatment are correctly fitted compression garments and the use of intermittent compression devices.Microvascular Pathologies Associated with Diabetes        
Diabetes is the leading cause of blindness, the number one cause of amputations and impotence, and one of the most frequently occurring chronic childhood diseases. Diabetes is also the leading cause of end-stage renal disease in the United States, with a prevalence rate of 31% compared with other renal diseases. Diabetes is also the most frequent indication for kidney transplantation, accounting for 22% of all transplantation operations.
In general, diabetic complications can be classified broadly as microvascular or macrovascular disease. Microvascular complications include neuropathy (nerve damage), nephropathy (kidney disease) and vision disorders (eg retinopathy, glaucoma, cataract and corneal disease). In the retina, glomerulus, and vasa nervorum, similar pathophysiologic features characterize diabetes-specific microvascular disease.
Microvascular pathologies associated with diabetes are defined as a disease of the smallest blood vessels (capillaries) that may occur e.g. in people who have had diabetes for a long time. The walls of the vessels become abnormally thick but weak. They, therefore, bleed, leak protein and slow the flow of blood through the body.
Clinical and animal model data indicate that chronic hyperglycemia is the central initiating factor for all types of diabetic microvascular disease. Duration and magnitude of hyperglycemia are both strongly correlated with the extent and rate of progression of diabetic microvascular disease. Although all diabetic cells are exposed to elevated levels of plasma glucose, hyperglycemic damage is limited to those cell types (e.g., endothelial cells) that develop intracellular hyperglycemia. Endothelial cells develop intracellular hyperglycemia because, unlike many other cells, they cannot down-regulate glucose transport when exposed to extracellular hyperglycemia. That intracellular hyperglycemia is necessary and sufficient for the development of diabetic pathology is further demonstrated by the fact that overexpression of the GLUT1 glucose transporter in mesangial cells cultured in a normal glucose milieu mimics the diabetic phenotype, inducing the same increases in collagen type IV, collagen type I, and fibronectin gene expression as diabetic hyperglycemia.
Abnormal Endothelial Cell Function: Early in the course of diabetes mellitus, before structural changes are evident, hyperglycemia causes abnormalities in blood flow and vascular permeability in the retina, glomerulus, and peripheral nerve vasa nervorum. The increase in blood flow and intracapillary pressure is thought to reflect hyperglycemia-induced decreased nitric oxide (NO) production on the efferent side of capillary beds, and possibly an increased sensitivity to angiotensin II. As a consequence of increased intracapillary pressure and endothelial cell dysfunction, retinal capillaries exhibit increased leakage of fluorescein and glomerular capillaries have an elevated albumin excretion rate (AER). Comparable changes occur in the vasa vasorum of peripheral nerve. Early in the course of diabetes, increased permeability is reversible; as time progresses, however, it becomes irreversible.
Increased Vessel Wall Protein Accumulation
The common pathophysiologic feature of diabetic microvascular disease is progressive narrowing and eventual occlusion of vascular lumina, which results in inadequate perfusion and function of the affected tissues. Early hyperglycemia-induced microvascular hypertension and increased vascular permeability contribute to irreversible microvessel occlusion by three processes:                The first is an abnormal leakage of periodic acid-Schiff (PAS)-positive, carbohydrate-containing plasma proteins, which are deposited in the capillary wall and which may stimulate perivascular cells such as pericytes and mesangial cells to elaborate growth factors and extracellular matrix.        The second is extravasation of growth factors, such as transforming growth factor β1 (TGF-β1), which directly stimulates overproduction of extracellular matrix components, and may induce apoptosis in certain complication-relevant cell types.        The third is hypertension-induced stimulation of pathologic gene expression by endothelial cells and supporting cells, which include glut-1 glucose transporters, growth factors, growth factor receptors, extracellular matrix components, and adhesion molecules that can activate circulating leukocytes. The observation that unilateral reduction in the severity of diabetic microvascular disease occurs on the side with ophthalmic or renal artery stenosis is consistent with this concept.Microvascular Cell Loss and Vessel Occlusion        
The progressive narrowing and occlusion of diabetic microvascular lumina are also accompanied by microvascular cell loss. In the retina, diabetes mellitus induces programmed cell death of Müller cells and ganglion cells, pericytes, and endothelial cells. In the glomerulus, declining renal function is associated with widespread capillary occlusion and podocyte loss, but the mechanisms underlying glomerular cell loss are not yet known. In the vasa nervorum, endothelial cell and pericyte degeneration occur, and these microvascular changes appear to precede the development of diabetic peripheral neuropathy. The multifocal distribution of axonal degeneration in diabetes supports a causal role for microvascular occlusion, but hyperglycemia-induced decreases in neurotrophins may contribute by preventing normal axonal repair and regeneration.
Another common feature of diabetic microvascular disease has been termed hyperglycemic memory, or the persistence or progression of hyperglycemia-induced microvascular alterations during subsequent periods of normal glucose homeostasis. The most striking example of this phenomenon is the development of severe retinopathy in histologically normal eyes of diabetic dogs that occurred entirely during a 2.5-year period of normalized blood glucose that followed 2.5 years of hyperglycemia. Hyperglycemia-induced increases in selected matrix gene transcription also persist for weeks after restoration of normoglycemia in vivo, and a less pronounced, but qualitatively similar, prolongation of hyperglycemia-induced increase in selected matrix gene transcription occurs in cultured endothelial cells.
For further information, see “Shared pathophysiologic features of microvascular complications of diabetes” (Larsen: Williams Textbook of Endocrinology, 10th ed., Copyright© 2003 Elsevier).
Microvascular complications occur not only in overt diabetes but are also due to Impaired Glucose Tolerance (IGT). Microvascular complications of IGT: neuropathy, retinopathy, and renal microproteinuria.
Diabetic Neuropathy
Diabetic neuropathies are neuropathic disorders (peripheral nerve damage) that are associated with diabetes mellitus. These conditions usually result from diabetic microvascular injury involving small blood vessels that supply nerves (vasa nervorum). Relatively common conditions which may be associated with diabetic neuropathy include third nerve palsy; mononeuropathy; mononeuropathy multiplex; diabetic amyotrophy; a painful polyneuropathy; autonomic neuropathy; and thoracoabdominal neuropathy and the most common form, peripheral neuropathy, which mainly affects the feet and legs. There are four factors involved in the development of diabetic neuropathy: microvascular disease, advanced glycated end products, protein kinase C, and the polyol pathway.
Microvascular Disease in Diabetic Neuropathy
Vascular and neural diseases are closely related and intertwined. Blood vessels depend on normal nerve function, and nerves depends on adequate blood flow. The first pathological change in the microvasculature is vasoconstriction. As the disease progresses, neuronal dysfunction correlates closely with the development of vascular abnormalities, such as capillary basement membrane thickening and endothelial hyperplasia, which contribute to diminished oxygen tension and hypoxia. Neuronal ischemia is a well-established characteristic of diabetic neuropathy. Vasodilator agents (e.g., angiotensin-converting-enzyme inhibitors, alpha1-antagonists) can lead to substantial improvements in neuronal blood flow, with corresponding improvements in nerve conduction velocities. Thus, microvascular dysfunction occurs early in diabetes, parallels the progression of neural dysfunction, and may be sufficient to support the severity of structural, functional, and clinical changes observed in diabetic neuropathy. Peripheral neuropathy (legs), sensorimotor neuropathy is a significant component in the pathogenesis of leg ulcers in diabetes.
Neuropathy is a common complication of diabetes occurring over time in more than half of patients with type 2 diabetes. Nerve conduction studies demonstrate that neuropathy is already present in 10-18% of patients at the time of diabetes diagnosis, suggesting that peripheral nerve injury occurs at early stages of disease and with milder glycemic dysregulation. The concept that neuropathy is an early clinical sign of diabetes was proposed >40 years ago, and most studies report an association between IGT and neuropathy. Most patients with IGT and associated neuropathy have a symmetric, distal sensory polyneuropathy with prominent neuropathic pain. IGT neuropathy (Microvascular complications of impaired glucose tolerance—Perspectives in Diabetes, J. Robinson Singleton, in Diabetes Dec. 1, 2003) is phenotypically similar to early diabetic neuropathy, which also causes sensory symptoms, including pain, and autonomic dysfunction. In a survey of 669 patients with early diabetic neuropathy, sensory symptoms were present in >60%, impotence in nearly 40%, and other autonomic involvement in 33%, but evidence of motor involvement in only 12%. These clinical findings suggest prominent early involvement of the small unmyelinated nerve fibers that carry pain, temperature, and autonomic signals. Direct quantitation of unmyelinated intraepidermal nerve fibers from skin biopsies shows similar fiber loss and altered morphology in patients with neuropathy associated with IGT and early diabetes.
Autonomic dysfunction, particularly erectile dysfunction and altered cardiac vagal response, are common early features of neuropathic injury in diabetes. Work with IGT patients also suggests prevalent vagal dysautonoinia: separate studies have found abnormal heart rate recovery following exercise, blunted R-R interval variability to deep breathing, and reduced expiration to inspiration ratio (all measures of vagal dysautonomia) in a greater fraction of IGT patients than age-matched normoglycemic control subjects.
Nerve damage in diabetes affects the motor, sensory, and autonomic fibers. Motor neuropathy causes muscle weakness, atrophy, and paresis. Sensory neuropathy leads to loss of the protective sensations of pain, pressure, and heat. The absence of pain leads to many problems in the insensate foot, including ulceration, unperceived trauma, and Charcot neuroarthropathy. The patient may not seek treatment until after the wound has advanced. A combination of sensory and motor dysfunction can cause the patient to place abnormal stresses on the foot, resulting in trauma, which may lead to infection. Autonomic sympathetic neuropathy causes vasodilation and decreased sweating, which results in warm, overly dry feet that are particularly prone to skin breakdown, as well as functional alterations in microvascular flow. Autonomic dysfunction (and denervation of dermal structures) also results in loss of skin integrity, which provides an ideal site for microbial invasion. The neuropathic foot does not ulcerate spontaneously; rather, it is the combination of some form of trauma accompanied by neuropathy.
Microvascular dysfunction occurs early in diabetes, parallels the progression of neural dysfunction, and may be sufficient to support the severity of structural, functional, and clinical changes observed in diabetic neuropathy.
Advanced glycated end products—Elevated intracellular levels of glucose cause a nonenzymatic covalent bonding with proteins, which alters their structure and destroys their function. Certain of these glycated proteins are implicated in the pathology of diabetic neuropathy and other long term complications of diabetes.
Protein kinase C(PKC)—PKC is implicated in the pathology of diabetic neuropathy. Increased levels of glucose cause an increase in intracellular diacylglycerol, which activates PKC. PKC inhibitors in animal models will increase nerve conduction velocity by increasing neuronal blood flow.
Sensorimotor Polyneuropathy
Longer nerve fibers are affected to a greater degree than shorter ones, because nerve conduction velocity is slowed in proportion to a nerve's length. In this syndrome, decreased sensation and loss of reflexes occurs first in the toes bilaterally, then extends upward. It is usually described as glove-stocking distribution of numbness, sensory loss, dysesthesia and nighttime pain. The pain can feel like burning, pricking sensation, achy or dull. Pins and needles sensation is common. Loss of proprioception, that is, the sense of where a limb is in space, is affected early. These patients cannot feel when they are stepping on a foreign body, like a splinter, or when they are developing a callous from an ill-fitting shoe. Consequently, they are at risk for developing ulcers and infections on the feet and legs, which can lead to amputation. Similarly, these patients can get multiple fractures of the knee, ankle or foot, and develop a Charcot joint. Loss of motor function results on dorsiflexion contractures of the toes, so called hammertoes. These contractures occur not only in the foot but also in the hand.
Autonomic Neuropathy
The autonomic nervous system is composed of nerves serving the heart, GI tract and urinary system. Autonomic neuropathy can affect any of these organ systems. The most commonly recognized autonomic dysfunction in diabetics is orthostatic hypotension, or the uncomfortable sensation of fainting when a patient stands up. In the case of diabetic autonomic neuropathy, it is due to the failure of the heart and arteries to appropriately adjust heart rate and vascular tone to keep blood continually and fully flowing to the brain. This symptom is usually accompanied by a loss of sinus respiratory variation, that is, the usual change in heart rate seen with normal breathing. When these two findings are present, cardiac autonomic neuropathy is present.
GI tract manifestations include delayed gastric emptying, gastroparesis, nausea, bloating, and diarrhea. Because many diabetics take oral medication for their diabetes, absorption of these medicines is greatly affected by the delayed gastric emptying. This can lead to hypoglycemia when an oral diabetic agent is taken before a meal and does not get absorbed until hours, or sometimes days later, when there is normal or low blood sugar already. Sluggish movement of the small intestine can cause bacterial overgrowth, made worse by the presence of hyperglycemia. This leads to bloating, gas and diarrhea.
Urinary symptoms include urinary frequency, urgency, incontinence and retention. Again, because of the retention of sweet urine, urinary tract infections are frequent. Urinary retention can lead to bladder diverticula, stones, reflux nephropathy.
Cranial Neuropathy
When cranial nerves are affected, oculomotor (3rd) neuropathies are most common. The oculomotor nerve controls all of the muscles that move the eye with the exception of the lateral rectus and superior oblique muscles. It also serves to constrict the pupil and open the eyelid. The onset of a diabetic third nerve palsy is usually abrupt, beginning with frontal or periorbital pain and then diplopia. All of the oculomotor muscles innervated by the third nerve may be affected, except for those that control pupil size. The sixth nerve, the abducens nerve, which innervates the lateral rectus muscle of the eye (moves the eye laterally), is also commonly affected but fourth nerve, the trochlear nerve, (innervates the superior oblique muscle, which moves the eye downward) involvement is unusual. Mononeuropathies of the thoracic or lumbar spinal nerves can occur and lead to painful syndromes that mimic myocardial infarction, cholecystitis or appendicitis. Diabetics have a higher incidence of entrapment neuropathies, such as carpal tunnel syndrome.
Diabetic Limb Ischemia and Diabetic Foot Ulcers
Diabetes and pressure can impair microvascular circulation and lead to changes in the skin on the lower extremities, which in turn, can lead to formation of ulcers and subsequent infection. Microvascular changes lead to limb muscle microangiopathy, as well as a predisposition to develop peripheral ischemia and a reduced angiogenesis compensatory response to ischemic events. Microvascular pathology exacerbates Peripheral Vascular Disease (PVD) (or Peripheral Arterial Disease (PAD) or Lower Extremity Arterial Disease (LEAD)—a MACROvascular complication—narrowing of the arteries in the legs due to atherosclerosis. PVD occurs earlier in diabetics, is more severe and widespread, and often involves intercurrent microcirculatory problems affecting the legs, eyes, and kidneys.
Foot ulcers and gangrene are frequent comorbid conditions of PAD. Concurrent peripheral neuropathy with impaired sensation make the foot susceptible to trauma, ulceration, and infection. The progression of PAD in diabetes is compounded by such comorbidity as peripheral neuropathy and insensitivity of the feet and lower extremities to pain and trauma. With impaired circulation and impaired sensation, ulceration and infection occur. Progression to osteomyelitis and gangrene may necessitate amputation.
Persons with diabetes are up to 25 times more likely than nondiabetic persons to sustain a lower limb amputation, underscoring the need to prevent foot ulcers and subsequent limb loss.
Diabetic foot ulcers may occur not only in conjunction with PAD but may also be associated with neuropathy, venous insufficiency (varicose veins), trauma, and infection. PAD contributes to these other conditions in producing or precipitating foot ulcers. Foot ulcers do not necessarily represent progression of PAD, as they may occur in the presence of adequate clinical peripheral arterial perfusion. Patient-based studies indicate an increased risk of foot ulceration in diabetic patients who have peripheral neuropathy and a high plantar foot pressure. The prevalence of a history of ulcers or sores on the foot or ankles was 15% of all diabetic patients in the population-based study in southern Wisconsin. The prevalence was higher for diabetic individuals diagnosed at age <30 years, was slightly higher in men (16%) than in women (13%), and was greater in insulin-treated diabetic patients (17%) than in patients not taking insulin (10%). The prevalence increased with age, especially in diabetic patients diagnosed at age <30 years. In patient studies from Europe, prevalence of foot ulcers in diabetic patients was 3% in those age <50 years, 7% in those age <60 years, and 14% in those age <80 years. Prevalence was greater in males than in females at age 70 years.
In diabetic patients, foot ischemia and infection are serious and even life-threatening occurrences; however, neuropathy is the most difficult condition to treat. The medical and surgical literature concerning all aspects of the clinical and pathological manifestations of the diabetic foot is overwhelming. Neuropathy, angiopathy, retinopathy, and nephropathy, alone or in combination and in varying degrees of severity, may influence the treatment of the diabetic foot.
Every year, 82,000 limb amputations are performed in patients with diabetes mellitus. The majority of these amputations are performed in the elderly population. Amputations resulting from diabetes may arise from multiple etiologies, including foot ulcers, ischemia, venous leg ulcers (ie, those secondary to venous reflux), and heel ulcers (ie, those resulting from untreated pressure ulcers in the heel). The majority of these amputations originate from ulcers. The prevalence of foot ulcers among patients with diabetes is 12%. In addition, the 20-year cumulative incidence of lower-extremity ulcers in patients with type I diabetes is 9.9%. Diabetes-induced limb amputations result in a 5-year mortality rate of 39% to 68% and are associated with an increased risk of additional amputations. The length of hospital stay is approximately 60% longer among patients with diabetic foot ulcers, as compared with those without ulcers.
Diabetic neuropathy impairs the nerve axon reflex that depends on healthy C-fiber nociceptor function and causes local vasodilation in response to a painful stimulus. This condition further compromises the vasodilatory response present in conditions of stress, such as injury or inflammation, in the diabetic neuropathic foot. This impairment may partially explain why some ulcers in the diabetic neuropathic foot are either slow to heal or fail to heal at all, despite successful lower-extremity revascularization.
The most common causal pathway to diabetic foot ulceration can thus be identified as the combination of neuropathy (sensory loss), deformity (eg, prominent metatarsal heads), and trauma (eg, ill-fitting footwear).
Most surgeons prefer to perform popliteal or tibial arterial bypass because of inferior rates of limb salvage and patency compared with more proximal procedures. If popliteal or tibial arterial bypass is unable to restore a palpable foot pulse, pedal bypass has been reported to provide a more durable and effective limb-salvage procedure for patients with diabetes and ischemic foot wounds]. Even extensive multisegment occlusive disease in patients with diabetes does not present an impediment to foot salvage. Whereas serious wound complications may have disastrous results, they are uncommon after pedal bypass grafting. Adequate control of preexisting foot infection and careful graft tunneling have been shown to be effective in avoiding further complications. Angioplasty in the lower extremity is becoming more progressively utilized. However, it must be emphasized that for angioplasty to be effective, a distal vessel or feeding vessel must be patent if the more proximal angioplasty is to succeed.
While diabetic ulcers/limb pathologies may be managed in some patients (by Debridement, antibiotic treatment, use of preparations to stimulate granulation tissue (new collagen and angiogenesis) and reduction of bacterial burden in the wound), it would be beneficial to have a pharmaceutical composition that could better treat these conditions and/or alleviate the symptoms.
For further information, see American Journal of Surgery, Volume 187 • Number 5 Suppl 1 • May 1, 2004, Copyright© 2004 Elsevier.
Coronary Microvascular Dysfunction in Diabetes
The correlation between histopathology and microcirculatory dysfunction in diabetes is well known from old experimental studies and from autopsy, where thickening of the basal membrane, perivascular fibrosis, vascular rarefication, and capillary hemorrhage are frequently found. It remains difficult to confirm these data in vivo, although a recent paper demonstrated a correlation between pathology and ocular microvascular dysfunction (Am J Physiol 2003; 285). A large amount of clinical studies, however, indicate that not only overt diabetes but also impaired metabolic control may affect coronary microcirculation (Hypert Res 2002; 25:893). Werner alluded to the important paper by Sambuceti et al (Circulation 2001; 104:1129) showing the persistence of microvascular dysfunction in patients after successful reopening of the infarct related artery, and which may explain the increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in these patients. There is mounting evidence from large acute reperfusion studies that morbidity and mortality are unrelated to the reopening itself of the infarct related artery, but much more dependent on the TIMI flow+/− myocardial blush (Stone 2002; Feldmann Circulation 2003). Herrmann indicated, among others, that the integrity of the coronary microcirculation is probably the most important clinical and prognostic factor in this context (Circulation 2001). The neutral effect of protection devices (no relevant change for TIMI flow, for ST resolution, or for MACE) may indicate that a functional impairment of microcirculation is the major determinant of prognosis. There is also increasing evidence that coronary microvascular dysfunction plays a major role in non obstructive CAD. Coronary endothelial dysfunction remains a strong prognostic predictor in these patients.
Diabetic Nephropathy (Renal Dysfunction in Patients with Diabetes)
Diabetic nephropathy encompasses microalbuminuria (a microvascular disease effect), proteinuria and ESRD. Diabetes is the most common cause of kidney failure, accounting for more than 40 percent of new cases. Even when drugs and diet are able to control diabetes, the disease can lead to nephropathy and kidney failure. Most people with diabetes do not develop nephropathy that is severe enough to cause kidney failure. About 16 million people in the United States have diabetes, and about 100,000 people have kidney failure as a result of diabetes.
Diabetic Retinopathy
In the diabetic state, hyperglycemia leads to decreased retinal blood flow, retinal hyperpermeability, delays in photoreceptor nerve conduction, and retinal neuronal cell death. In short duration diabetes, neuronal cell death has been identified within the inner nuclear layer of the retina. Specifically, apoptosis has been localized to glial cells such as Mueller cells and astrocytes and has been shown to occur within 1 month of diabetes in the STZ-induced diabetic rat model. The cause of these events is multi-factorial including activation of the diacylglycerol/PKC pathway, oxidative stress, and nonenzymatic glycosylation. The combination of these events renders the retina hypoxic and ultimately leads to the development of diabetic retinopathy. One possible connection between retinal ischemia and the early changes in the diabetic retina is the hypoxia-induced production of growth factors such as VEGF. The master regulator of the hypoxic response has been identified as hypoxia inducible factor-1 (HIF-1), which controls genes that regulate cellular proliferation and angiogenesis. Prior studies have demonstrated that inhibition of HIF-1 ubiquitination leads to binding with hypoxia responsive elements (HRE) and production of VEGF mRNA.
Diabetic Retinopathy is defined as the progressive dysfunction of the retinal vasculature caused by chronic hyperglycemia. Key features of diabetic retinopathy include microaneurysms, retinal hemorrhages, retinal lipid exudates, cotton-wool spots, capillary nonperfusion, macular edema and neovascularization. Associated features include vitreous hemorrhage, retinal detachment, neovascular glaucoma, premature cataract and cranial nerve palsies.
There are 16 million people in the US with Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes. Within 15 years, 80% of Type 1 patients have developed diabetic retinopathy while 84% of Type 2 diabetic patients develop retinopathy within 19 years. These numbers constitute a significant market for therapeutic agents aimed at ocular diseases of neovasculature. The development of diabetic retinopathy is time-dependent. Despite optimal blood sugar control, patients with long-standing disease can be expected to eventually develop some form of retinopathy. The National Society to Prevent Blindness has estimated that 4 to 6 million diabetics in the U.S. have diabetic retinopathy. The estimated annual incidence of new cases of proliferative diabetic retinopathy and diabetic macular edema are 65,000 and 75,000, respectively, with a prevalence of 700,000 and 500,000 respectively. Diabetic retinopathy causes from 12,000 to 24,000 new cases of blindness in the US every year. Retinopathy is treated by surgical methods, effective in reducing severe vision loss, but the lasered portions of the retina are irreversibly destroyed. There are no drug treatments available.
A microvascular disease that primarily affects the capillaries, diabetes mellitus affects the eye by destroying the vasculature in the conjunctiva, retina and central nervous system. Patients may present with histories of long-standing injected bulbar conjunctivae along with systemic complaints of weight loss despite larger than normal appetite (polyphasia), abnormal thirst (polydypsia) and abnormally frequent urination (polyuria).
Fluctuating visual acuity secondary to unstable blood sugar is a common ocular sign. Swelling within the crystalline lens results in large sudden shifts in refraction as well as premature cataract formation. Changes in visual acuity will depend upon the severity and stage of the disease.
In the retina, weakening of the arterioles and capillaries may result in the characteristic appearance of intraretinal dot and blot hemorrhages, exudates, intraretinal microvascular abnormalities (IRMA) microaneurysms, edema and cotton wool infarcts. Proliferative diabetic retinopathy is the result of severe vascular compromise and is visible as neovascularization of the disc (NVD), neovascularization elsewhere (NVE) and neovascularization of the iris (NVI, or rubeosis irides). Neurological complications include palsies of the third, fourth and sixth cranial nerves as well as diabetic papillitis and facial nerve paralysis.
Diabetes mellitus is a genetically influenced group of diseases that share glucose intolerance. It is characterized as a disorder of metabolic regulation as a result of deficient or malfunctioning insulin or deficient or malfunctioning cellular insulin receptors.
Biochemistry involving the formation of sorbitol plays a role in the destruction of pericytes, which are cells that support the vascular endothelium. As the supportive pericytes perish, capillary endothelium becomes compromised, resulting in the vascular leakage of blood, protein and lipid. This, in combination with thickened, glucose-laden blood, produces vascular insufficiency, capillary nonperfusion, retinal hypoxia, altered structure and decreased function. The formation and release of vasoproliferative factors which play a role in the genesis of retinal neovascularization are poorly understood.
Most non-vision threatening sequelae of diabetes resolve spontaneously over the course of weeks to months following medical control. In cases where there are large refractive changes, patients may require a temporary spectacle prescription until the refraction stabilizes. When retinopathy threatens the macula or when new blood vessels proliferate, the patient may be referred for laser photocoagulation. The Diabetic Retinopathy Study (DRS) has conclusively proven that panretinal photocoagulation was successful in reducing the risk of severe vision loss in high-risk patients. It defined the high-risk characteristics as: (1) Neovascularization of the optic disc (NVD) one-quarter to one-third of a disc diameter in size and (2) Neovascularization elsewhere (NVE) with any vitreous hemorrhage.
Diabetic Macular Edema (DME)
DME is a complication of diabetic retinopathy, a disease affecting the blood vessels of the retina. Diabetic retinopathy results in multiple abnormalities in the retina, including retinal thickening and edema, hemorrhages, impeded blood flow, excessive leakage of fluid from blood vessels and, in the final stages, abnormal blood vessel growth. This blood vessel growth can lead to large hemorrhages and severe retinal damage. When the blood vessel leakage of diabetic retinopathy causes swelling in the macula, it is referred to as DME. The principal symptom of DME is a loss of central vision. Risk factors associated with DME include poorly controlled blood glucose levels, high blood pressure, abnormal kidney function causing fluid retention, high cholesterol levels and other general systemic factors.
According to the World Health Organization, diabetic retinopathy is the leading cause of blindness in working age adults and a leading cause of vision loss in diabetics. The American Diabetes Association reports that there are approximately 18 million diabetics in the United States and approximately 1.3 million newly diagnosed cases of diabetes in the United States each year. Prevent Blindness America and the National Eye Institute estimate that in the United States there are over 5.3 million people aged 18 or older with diabetic retinopathy, including approximately 500,000 with DME. The CDC estimates that there are approximately 75,000 new cases of DME in the United States each year.
Additional Neuropathies
In addition to diabetes, the common causes of neuropathy are herpes zoster infection, chronic or acute trauma (including surgery) and various neurotoxins. Neuropathic pain is common in cancer as a direct result of the cancer on peripheral nerves (e.g., compression by a tumor) and as a side effect of many chemotherapy drugs.
Microvascular disease—Vascular and neural diseases are closely related and intertwined. Blood vessels depend on normal nerve function, and nerves depends on adequate blood flow. The first pathological change in the microvasculature is vasoconstriction. As the disease progresses, neuronal dysfunction correlates closely with the development of vascular abnormalities, such as capillary basement membrane thickening and endothelial hyperplasia, which contribute to diminished oxygen tension and hypoxia. Vasodilator agents (e.g., angiotensin-converting-enzyme inhibitors, α1-antagonists) can lead to substantial improvements in neuronal blood flow, with corresponding improvements in nerve conduction velocities.
Clinical Manifestations
Neuropathy affects all peripheral nerves: pain fibers, motor neurons, autonomic nerves. It therefore necessarily can affect all organs and systems since all are innervated. There are several distinct syndromes based on the organ systems and members affected, but these are by no means exclusive. A patient can have sensorimotor and autonomic neuropathy or any other combination.
Despite advances in the understanding of the metabolic causes of neuropathy, treatments aimed at interrupting these pathological processes have been limited by side effects and lack of efficacy. Thus, treatments are symptomatic and do not address the underlying problems. Agents for pain caused by sensorimotor neuropathy include tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs), serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and antiepileptic drugs (AEDs). None of these agents reverse the pathological processes leading to diabetic neuropathy and none alter the relentless course of the illness. Thus, it would be useful to have a pharmaceutical composition that could better treat these conditions and/or alleviate the symptoms.
Additional Retinopathies
Retinal Microvasculopathy (AIDS Retinopathy)
Retinal microvasculopathy is seen in 100% of AIDS patients. It is characterized by intraretinal hemorrhages, microaneurysms, Roth spots, cotton-wool spots (microinfarctions of the nerve fiber layer) and perivascular sheathing. The etiology of the retinopathy is unknown though it has been thought to be due to circulating immune complexes, local release of cytotoxic substances, abnormal hemorheology, and HIV infection of endothelial cells. AIDS retinopathy is now so common that cotton wool spots in a patient without diabetes or hypertension but at risk for HIV should prompt the physician to consider viral testing. There is no specific treatment for AIDS retinopathy but its continued presence may prompt a physician to reexamine the efficacy of the HIV therapy and patient compliance.
Bone Marrow Transplantation (BMT) Retinopathy
Bone marrow transplantation retinopathy was first reported in 1983. It typically occurs within six months, but it can occur as late as 62 months after BMT. Risk factors such as diabetes and hypertension may facilitate the development of BMT retinopathy by heightening the ischemic microvasculopathy. There is no known age, gender or race predilection for development of BMT retinopathy. Patients present with decreased visual acuity and/or visual field deficit. Posterior segment findings are typically bilateral and symmetric. Clinical manifestations include multiple cotton wool spots, telangiectasia, microaneurysms, macular edema, hard exudates and retinal hemorrhages. Fluorescein angiography demonstrates capillary nonperfusion and dropout, intraretinal microvascular abnormalities, microaneurysms and macular edema. Although the precise etiology of BMT retinopathy has not been elucidated, it appears to be affected by several factors: cyclosporine toxicity, total body irradiation (TBI), and chemotherapeutic agents. Cyclosporine is a powerful immunomodulatory agent that suppresses graft-versus-host immune response. It may lead to endothelial cell injury and neurologic side effects, and as a result, it has been suggested as the cause of BMT retinopathy. However, BMT retinopathy can develop in the absence of cyclosporine use, and cyclosporine has not been shown to cause BMT retinopathy in autologous or syngeneic bone marrow recipients. Cyclosporine does not, therefore, appear to be the sole cause of BMT retinopathy. Total body irradiation (TBI) has also been implicated as the cause of BMT retinopathy. Radiation injures the retinal microvasculature and leads to ischemic vasculopathy. Variables such as the total dose of radiation and the time interval between radiation and bone marrow ablation appear to be important. However, BMT retinopathy can occur in patients who did not receive TBI, and BMT retinopathy is not observed in solid organ transplant recipients who received similar doses of radiation. Thus, TBI is not the sole cause, but it is another contributing factor in development of BMT retinopathy. Chemotherapeutic agents have been suggested as a potential contributing factor in BMT retinopathy. Medications such as cisplatin, carmustine, and cyclophosphamide can cause ocular side effects including papilledema, optic neuritis, visual field deficit and cortical blindness. It has been suggested that these chemotherapeutic drugs may predispose patients to radiation-induced retinal damages and enhance the deleterious effect of radiation. In general, patients with BMT retinopathy have a good prognosis. The retinopathy usually resolves within two to four months after stopping or lowering the dosage of cyclosporine. In one report, 69 percent of patients experienced complete resolution of the retinal findings, and 46 percent of patients fully recovered their baseline visual acuity. Because of the favorable prognosis and relatively non-progressive nature of BMT retinopathy, aggressive intervention is usually not necessary.
Ischemic Conditions
Ischemia can be divided into 2 categories: the first involves the accelerated atherosclerosis that occurs commonly in patients with diabetes, i.e., in the femoral, popliteal, and posterior tibial arteries. These vessels, often only 1 or 2 cm in diameter, can develop atherosclerotic plaque, which seriously decreases blood flow. After large vessels become completely occluded, stroke, myocardial infarction, ischemia, and nonhealing diabetic foot ulcers can occur. This form of ischemia is essentially a large-vessel disease.
Post Stroke Dementia
25% of people have dementia after a stroke with many others developing dementia over the following 5 to 10 years. In addition, many individuals experience more subtle impairments of their higher brain functions (such as planning skills and speed of processing information) and are at very high risk of subsequently developing dementia. Very small strokes in the deep parts of the brain in this process (called microvascular disease) seem to be essential in the process leading to an identified pattern of brain atrophy specific to post-stroke dementia.
Ocular Ischemic Syndrome
Patients suffering from ocular ischemic syndrome (OIS) are generally elderly, ranging in age from the 50s to 80s. Males are affected twice as commonly as females. The patient is only rarely asymptomatic. Decreased vision occurs at presentation in 90 percent of cases, and 40 percent of patients have attendant eye pain. There may also be an attendant or antecedent history of transient ischemic attacks or amaurosis fugax. Patients also have significant known or unknown systemic disease at the time of presentation. The most commonly encountered systemic diseases are hypertension, diabetes, ischemic heart disease, stroke, and peripheral vascular disease. To a lesser extent, patients manifest OIS as a result of giant cell arteritis (GCA).
Unilateral findings are present in 80 percent of cases. Common findings may include advanced unilateral cataract, anterior segment inflammation, asymptomatic anterior chamber reaction, macular edema, dilated but non-tortuous retinal veins, mid-peripheral dot and blot hemorrhages, cotton wool spots, exudates, and neovascularization of the disc and retina. There may also be spontaneous arterial pulsation, elevated intraocular pressure, and neovascularization of the iris and angle with neovascular glaucoma (NVG). While the patient may exhibit anterior segment neovascularization, ocular hypotony may occur due to low arterial perfusion to the ciliary body. Occasionally, there is visible retinal emboli (Hollenhorst plaques).
The findings in OIS are caused by internal carotid artery atheromatous ulceration and stenosis at the bifurcation of the common carotid artery. Five percent of patients with internal artery stenosis develop OIS. However, OIS only occurs if the degree of stenosis exceeds 90 percent. Stenosis of the carotid artery reduces perfusion pressure to the eye, resulting in the above-mentioned ischemic phenomena. Once stenosis reaches 90 percent, the perfusion pressure in the central retinal artery (CRA) drops only to 50 percent. Often, the reduced arterial pressure manifests as spontaneous pulsation of the CRA. The findings are variable and may include any or all of the above findings.
Patients with OIS have significant systemic disease that must be assessed. Cardiac death is the primary cause of mortality in patients with OIS—the five-year mortality rate is 40 percent. For this reason, patients with OIS must be referred to a cardiologist for complete serology, EKG, ECG, and carotid evaluation.
Microvascular Diseases of the Kidney
The kidney is involved in a number of discreet clinicopathologic conditions that affect systemic and renal microvasculature. Certain of these conditions are characterized by primary injury to endothelial cells, such as:                hemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS) and thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP) HUS and TTP are closely related diseases characterized by microangiopathic hemolytic anemia and variable organ impairment Traditionally, the diagnosis of HUS is made when renal failure is a predominant feature of the syndrome, as is common in children. In adults, neurologic impairment frequently predominates and the syndrome is then referred to as TTP. Thrombotic microangiopathy is the underlying pathologic lesion in both syndromes, and the clinical and laboratory findings in patients with either HUS or TTP overlap to a large extent. This has prompted several investigators to regard the two syndromes as a continuum of a single disease entity. Pathogenesis: Experimental data strongly suggest that endothelial cell injury is the primary event in the pathogenesis of HUS/TTP. Endothelial damage triggers a cascade of events that includes local intravascular coagulation, fibrin deposition, and platelet activation and aggregation. The end result is the histopathologic finding of thrombotic microangiopathy common to the different forms of the HUS/TTP syndrome. If HUS/TTP is left untreated, the mortality rate approaches 90%. Supportive therapy—including dialysis, antihypertensive medications, blood transfusions, and management of neurologic complications—contributes to the improved survival of patients with HUS/TTP. Adequate fluid balance and bowel rest are important in treating typical HUS associated with diarrhea.        radiation nephritis—The long-term consequences of renal irradiation in excess of 2500 rad can be divided into five clinical syndromes:                    (i) Acute radiation nephritis occurs in approximately 40% of patients after a latency period of 6 to 13 months. It is characterized clinically by abrupt onset of hypertension, proteinuria, edema, and progressive renal failurein most cases leading to end-stage kidneys.            (ii) Chronic radiation nephritis, conversely, has a latency period that varies between 18 months and 14 years after the initial insult. It is insidious in onset and is characterized by hypertension, proteinuria, and gradual loss of renal function.            (iii) The third syndrome manifests 5 to 19 years after exposure to radiation as benign proteinuria with normal renal function            (iv) A fourth group of patients exhibits only benign hypertension 2 to 5 years later and may have variable proteinuria. Late malignant hypertension arises 18 months to 11 years after irradiation in patients with either chronic radiation nephritis or benign hypertension. Removal of the affected kidney reversed the hypertension. Radiation-induced damage to the renal arteries with subsequent renovascular hypertension has been reported.            (v) A syndrome of renal insufficiency analogous to acute radiation nephritis has been observed in bone marrow transplantation (BMT) patients who were treated with total-body irradiation (TBI).                        
It has been reported that irradiation causes endothelial dysfunction but spares vascular smooth muscle cells in the early postradiation phase. Radiation could directly damage DNA, leading to decreased regeneration of these cells and denudement of the basement membrane in the glomerular capillaries and tubules. How this initial insult eventually leads to glomerulosclerosis, tubule atrophy, and interstitial fibrosis is unclear. It is postulated that degeneration of the endothelial cell layer may result in intravascular thrombosis in capillaries and smaller arterioles. This intrarenal angiopathy would then explain the progressive renal fibrosis and the hypertension that characterize radiation nephritis. A recent study of irradiated mouse kidneys showed a dose-dependent increase in leukocytes in the renal cortex, suggesting a role for inflammatory processes in radiation-induced nephritis.
In other kidney diseases, the microvasculature of the kidney is involved in autoimmune disorders, such as systemic sclerosis (scleroderma). Kidney involvement in systemic sclerosis manifests as a slowly progressing chronic renal disease or as scleroderma renal crisis (SRC), which is characterized by malignant hypertension and acute azotemia. It is postulated that SRC is caused by a Raynaud-like phenomenon in the kidney. Severe vasospasm leads to cortical ischemia and enhanced production of renin and angiotensin II, which in turn perpetuate renal vasoconstriction. Hormonal changes (pregnancy), physical and emotional stress, or cold temperature may trigger the Raynaud-like arterial vasospasm. The role of the renin-angiotensin system in perpetuating renal ischemia is underscored by the significant benefit of ACE inhibitors in treating SRC. In patients with SRC who progress to severe renal insufficiency despite antihypertensive treatment, dialysis becomes a necessity. Both peritoneal dialysis and hemodialysis have been employed. The End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) Network report on 311 patients with systemic sclerosis-induced ESRD dialyzed between 1983 and 1985 revealed a 33% survival rate at 3 years.
The renal microcirculation can also be affected in sickle cell disease, to which the kidney is particularly susceptible because of the low oxygen tension attained in the deep vessels of the renal medulla as a result of countercurrent transfer of oxygen along the vasa recta. The smaller renal arteries and arterioles can also be the site of thromboembolic injury from cholesterol-containing material dislodged from the walls of the large vessels.
Taken as a group, diseases that cause transient or permanent occlusion of renal microvasculature uniformly result in disruption of glomerular perfusion, and hence of the glomerular filtration rate, thereby constituting a serious threat to systemic homeostasis.
Acute Renal Failure (ARF)
ARF can be caused by microvascular or macrovascular disease (major renal artery occlusion or severe abdominal aortic disease). The classic microvascular diseases often present with microangiopathic hemolysis and acute renal failure occurring because of glomerular capillary thrombosis or occlusion, often with accompanying thrombocytopenia. Typical examples of these diseases include:                a) Thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura—The classic pentad in thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura includes fever, neurologic changes, renal failure, microangiopathic hemolytic anemia and thrombocytopenia.        b) Hemolytic uremic syndrome—Hemolytic uremic syndrome is similar to thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura but does not present with neurologic changes.        c) HELLP syndrome (hemolysis, elevated liver enzymes and low platelets). HELLP syndrome is a type of hemolytic uremic syndrome that occurs in pregnant women with the addition of transaminase elevations.        
Acute renal failure can present in all medical settings but is predominantly acquired in hospitals. The condition develops in 5 percent of hospitalized patients, and approximately 0.5 percent of hospitalized patients require dialysis. Over the past 40 years, the survival rate for acute renal failure has not improved, primarily because affected patients are now older and have more comorbid conditions. Infection accounts for 75 percent of deaths in patients with acute renal failure, and cardio-respiratory complications are the second most common cause of death. Depending on the severity of renal failure, the mortality rate can range from 7 percent to as high as 80 percent. Acute renal failure can be divided into three categories: Prerenal, intrinsic and postrenal ARF. Intrinsic ARF is subdivided into four categories: tubular disease, glomerular disease, vascular disease (includes microvascular) and interstitial disease.
Progressive Renal Disease
There is evidence that progressive renal disease is characterized by a progressive loss of the microvasculature. The loss of the microvasculature correlates directly with the development of glomerular and tubulointerstitial scarring. The mechanism is mediated in part by a reduction in the endothelial proliferative response, and this impairment in capillary repair is mediated by alteration in the local expression of both angiogenic (vascular endothelial growth factor) and antiangiogenic (thrombospondin 1) factors in the kidney. The alteration in balance of angiogenic growth factors is mediated by both macrophage-associated cytokines (interleukin-1β) and vasoactive mediators. Finally, there is intriguing evidence that stimulation of angiogenesis and/or capillary repair may stabilize renal function and slow progression and that this benefit occurs independently of effects on BP or proteinuria.
For further information see Brenner & Rector's The Kidney, 7th ed., Copyright© 2004 Elsevier: Chapter 33—Microvascular diseases of the kidney and also Tiwari and Vikrant Journal of Indian Academy of Clinical Medicine Vol. 5, No. 1 Review Article—Sepsis and the Kidney. 
Hearing Disorders
Chemical-induced Ototoxicity
The toxic effects of various ototoxic therapeutic drugs on auditory cells and spiral ganglion neurons are often the limiting factor for their therapeutic usefulness. Main ototoxic drugs include the widely used chemotherapeutic agent cisplatin and its analogs, commonly used aminoglycoside antibiotics, e.g. gentamicin, for the treatment of infections caused by gram-negative bacteria, quinine and its analogs, salicylate and its analogs, and loop-diuretics.
For example, antibacterial aminoglycosides such as gentamicins, streptomycins, kanamycins, tobramycins, and the like are known to have serious toxicity, particularly ototoxicity and nephrotoxicity, which reduce the usefulness of such antimicrobial agents (see Goodman and Gilman's The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics, 6th ed., A. Goodman Gilman et al., eds; Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc., New York, pp. 1169-71 (1980)). Clearly, ototoxicity is a dose-limiting side-effect of antibiotic administration. From 4 to 15% of patients receiving 1 gram per day for greater than 1 week develop measurable hearing loss, which slowly becomes worse and can lead to complete permanent deafness if treatment continues.
Ototoxicity is also a serious dose-limiting side-effect for cisplatin, a platinum coordination complex, that has proven effective on a variety of human cancers including testicular, ovarian, bladder, and head and neck cancer. Cisplatin (Platinol®) damages auditory and vestibular systems. Salicylates, such as aspirin, are the most commonly used therapeutic drugs for their anti-inflammatory, analgesic, anti-pyretic and anti-thrombotic effects. Unfortunately, they too have ototoxic side effects. They often lead to tinnitus (“ringing in the ears”) and temporary hearing loss. Moreover, if the drug is used at high doses for a prolonged time, the hearing impairment can become persistent and irreversible.
Accordingly, there exists a need for means to prevent, reduce or treat the incidence and/or severity of inner ear disorders and hearing impairments involving inner ear tissue, particularly inner ear hair cells. Of particular interest are those conditions arising as an unwanted side-effect of ototoxic therapeutic drugs including cisplatin and its analogs, aminoglycoside antibiotics, salicylate and its analogs, or loop diuretics. In addition, there exits a need for methods which will allow higher and thus more effective dosing with these ototoxicity-inducing pharmaceutical drugs, while concomitantly preventing or reducing ototoxic effects caused by these drugs. What is needed is a method that provides a safe, effective, and prolonged means for prophylacetic or curative treatment of hearing impairments related to inner ear tissue damage, loss, or degeneration, particularly ototoxin-induced and particularly involving inner ear hair cells. In addition, there is required a method and composition for the treatment of damage and deafness resulting from inner ear trauma (acoustic trauma).
Without being bound by theory, it is believed that cisplatin drugs and other drugs that induce ototoxicity (such as aminoglycoside antibiotics) may induce the ototoxic effects via programmed cell death or apoptosis in inner ear tissue, particularly inner ear hair cells (Zhang et al., Neuroscience 120 (2003) 191-205; Wang et al., J. Neuroscience 23((24):8596-8607). In mammals, auditory hair cells are produced only during embryonic development and do not regenerate if lost during postnatal life, therefore, a loss of hair cells will result in profound and irreversible deafness. Unfortunately, at present, there are no effective therapies to treat the cochlea and reverse this condition. Thus, an effective therapy to prevent cell death of auditory hair cells would be of great therapeutic value.
Pressure Sores
Pressure sores or pressure ulcers, are areas of damaged skin and tissue that develop when sustained pressure (usually from a bed or wheelchair) cuts off circulation to vulnerable parts of the body, especially the skin on the buttocks, hips and heels. The lack of adequate blood flow leads to ischemic necrosis and ulceration of the affected tissue. Pressure sores occur most often in patients with diminished or absent sensation or who are debilitated, emaciated, paralyzed, or long bedridden. Tissues over the sacrum, ischia, greater trochanters, external malleoli, and heels are especially susceptible; other sites may be involved depending on the patient's position.
Pressure sores are wounds which normally only heal very slowly and especially in such cases an improved and more rapid healing is of course of great importance for the patient. Furthermore, the costs involved in the treatment of patients suffering from such wounds are markedly reduced when the healing is improved and takes place more rapidly.
Ischemic Conditions
Ischemic injury is the most common clinical expression of cell injury by oxygen deprivation. The most useful models for studying ischemic injury involve complete occlusion of one of the end-arteries to an organ (e.g., a coronary artery) and examination of the tissue (e.g., cardiac muscle) in areas supplied by the artery. Complex pathologic changes occur in diverse cellular systems during ischemia. Up to a certain point, for a duration that varies among different types of cells, the injury may be amenable to repair, and the affected cells may recover if oxygen and metabolic substrates are again made available by restoration of blood flow. With further extension of the ischemic duration, cell structure continues to deteriorate, owing to relentless progression of ongoing injury mechanisms. With time, the energetic machinery of the cell—the mitochondrial oxidative powerhouse and the glycolytic pathway—becomes irreparably damaged, and restoration of blood flow (reperfusion) cannot rescue the damaged cell. Even if the cellular energetic machinery were to remain intact, irreparable damage to the genome or to cellular membranes will ensure a lethal outcome regardless of reperfusion. This irreversible injury is usually manifested as necrosis, but apoptosis may also play a role. Under certain circumstances, when blood flow is restored to cells that have been previously made ischemic but have not died, injury is often paradoxically exacerbated and proceeds at an accelerated pace—this is reperfusion injury.
Ischemia and Reperfusion Injury Following Lung Transplantation
Lung transplantation, the only definitive therapy for many patients with end stage lung disease, has poor survival rates in all solid allograft recipients. Ischemia reperfusion injury is one of the leading causes of death in lung allograft recipients.
Reperfusion injury may occur in a variety of conditions, especially during medical intervention, including but not limited to angioplasty, cardiac surgery or thrombolysis; organ transplant; as a result of plastic surgery; during severe compartment syndrome; during re-attachment of severed limbs; as a result of multiorgan failure syndrome; in the brain as a result of stroke or brain trauma; in connection with chronic wounds such as pressure sores, venous ulcers and diabetic ulcers; during skeletal muscle ischemia or limb transplantation; as a result of mesenteric ischemia or acute ischemic bowel disease; respiratory failure as a result of lower torso ischemia, leading to pulmonary hypertension, hypoxemia, and noncardiogenic pulmonary edema; acute renal failure as observed after renal transplantation, major surgery, trauma, and septic as well as hemorrhagic shock; Sepsis; Retinal ischemia occurring as a result of acute vascular occlusion, leading to loss of vision in a number of ocular diseases such as acute glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, hypertensive retinopathy, and retinal vascular occlusion; Cochlear ischemia; flap failure in microvascular surgery for head and neck defects; Raynaud's phenomenon and the associated digital ischemic lesions in scleroderma; spinal cord injury; vascular surgery; Traumatic rhabdomyolysis (crush syndrome); and myoglobinuria.
Further, ischemia/reperfusion may be involved in the following conditions: hypertension, hypertensive cerebral vascular disease, rupture of aneurysm, a constriction or obstruction of a blood vessel—as occurs in the case of a thrombus or embolus, angioma, blood dyscrasias, any form of compromised cardiac function including cardiac arrest or failure, systemic hypotension, cardiac arrest, cardiogenic shock, septic shock, spinal cord trauma, head trauma, seizure, bleeding from a tumor; and diseases such as stroke, Parkinson's disease, epilepsy, depression, ALS, Alzheimer's disease, Huntington's disease and any other disease-induced dementia (such as HIV induced dementia for example).
Additionally, an ischemic episode may be caused by a mechanical injury to the Central Nervous System, such as results from a blow to the head or spine. Trauma can involve a tissue insult such as an abrasion, incision, contusion, puncture, compression, etc., such as can arise from traumatic contact of a foreign object with any locus of or appurtenant to the head, neck, or vertebral column. Other forms of traumatic injury can arise from constriction or compression of CNS tissue by an inappropriate accumulation of fluid (for example, a blockade or dysfunction of normal cerebrospinal fluid or vitreous humor fluid production, turnover, or volume regulation, or a subdural or intracarnial hematoma or edema). Similarly, traumatic constriction or compression can arise from the presence of a mass of abnormal tissue, such as a metastatic or primary tumor.
Spinal Cord Injury
Spinal cord injury or myelopathy, is a disturbance of the spinal cord that results in loss of sensation and/or mobility. The two common types of spinal cord injury are due to trauma and disease. Traumatic injury can be due to automobile accidents, falls, gunshot, diving accidents inter alia, and diseases which can affect the spinal cord include polio, spina bifida, tumors and Friedreich's ataxia.
Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome
Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), also known as respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) or adult respiratory distress syndrome (in contrast with infant respiratory distress syndrome, IRDS) is a serious reaction to various forms of injuries to the lung. This is the most important disorder resulting in increased permeability pulmonary edema.
ARDS is a severe lung disease caused by a variety of direct and indirect insults. It is characterized by inflammation of the lung parenchyma leading to impaired gas exchange with concomitant systemic release of inflammatory mediators causing inflammation, hypoxemia and frequently resulting in multiple organ failure. This condition is life threatening and often lethal, usually requiring mechanical ventilation and admission to an intensive care unit. A less severe form is called acute lung injury (ALI).
In conclusion, current modes of therapy for the prevention and/or treatment of COPD, macular degeneration microvascular diseases and ototoxic conditions are unsatisfactory and there is a need therefore to develop novel compounds for this purpose. There is also a need to develop a therapy and a medicament which can treat the ototoxic effects currently associated with certain drugs and conditions, in particular with cisplatin chemotherapeutics and certain antibiotics without sacrificing the effectiveness of the drugs. Additionally, there is a need to develop a therapy and medicament which can treat the ototoxic effects associated with acoustic trauma or mechanical trauma within the inner ear. Furthermore, there is a need to develop a therapy and a medicament for the treatment of pressure sores, ischemia and ischemia-reperfusion related conditions. All the diseases and indications disclosed herein above, as well as other diseases and conditions described herein such as MI may also be treated by the novel compounds of this invention.
RTP801L
Gene RTP801, was first reported by the assignee of the instant application. U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,455,674, 6,555,667, and 6,740,738, all assigned to the assignee of the instant application, disclose and claim per se the RTP801 polynucleotide and polypeptide, and antibodies directed toward the polypeptide. RTP801 represents a unique gene target for hypoxia-inducible factor-1 (HIF-1) that may regulate hypoxia-induced pathogenesis independent of growth factors such as VEGF. Further discoveries relating to gene RTP801, as discovered by the assignee of the instant application, were reported in: Tzipora Shoshani, et al. Identification of a Novel Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1-Responsive Gene, RTP801, Involved in Apoptosis. MOLECULAR AND CELLULAR BIOLOGY, April 2002, p. 2283-2293; this paper, co-authored by the inventor of the present invention, details the discovery of the RTP801 gene. Gene RTP801L, so named because of its resemblance to RTP801, was also first reported by the assignee of the instant application, and given Pubmed accession No. NM—145244 subsequent to said report.
It has been demonstrated that RTP801/Redd1 and RTP801L/Redd2 potently inhibit signaling through mTOR, by working downstream of AKT and upstream of TSC2 to inhibit mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) functions. mTOR is a serine/threonine kinase that plays an essential role in cell growth control. mTOR stimulates cell growth by phosphorylating p70 ribosomal S6 kinase (S6K) and eukaryote initiation factor 4E-binding protein 1 (4EBP1). The mTOR pathway is regulated by a wide variety of cellular signals, including mitogenic growth factors, nutrients, cellular energy levels, and stress conditions. (Corradetti et al, The stress-inducted proteins RTP801 and RTP801L are negative regulators of the mammalian target of rapamycin pathway. J Biol Chem. 2005 March 18; 280(11):9769-72. Epub 2005 Jan. 4.)
Also reported under the name “SMHS1”, RTP801L was found to be upregulated in rat soleus muscle atrophied by restriction of activity. (Pisani et al., SMHS1 is involved in oxidative/glycolytic-energy metabolism balance of muscle fibers. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 2005 January 28; 326(4):788-93.). While the RTP801L amino acid sequence shares 65% similarity with RTP801—which is a cellular stress response protein regulated by HIF-1, RTP801L expression was demonstrated to be independent of HIF-1. RTP801L was found to be mainly expressed in skeletal muscle, and comparisons of its expression in atrophied versus hypertrophied muscles and in oxidative versus glycolytic muscles suggested that RTP801L contributes to the muscle energy metabolism phenotypes.
Further, the RTP801L gene was found to be was strongly up-regulated as THP-1 macrophages are converted to foam cells. Treatment of HMDM with desferrioxamine, a molecule that mimics the effect of hypoxia, increased expression of RTP801L in a concentration-dependent fashion. Transfection of U-937 and HMEC cells with a RTP801L expression vector increased the sensitivity of the cells for oxLDL-induced cytotoxicity, by inducing a shift from apoptosis toward necrosis. In contrast, suppression of mRNA expression using siRNA approach resulted in increased resistance to oxLDL treatment. Thus, it has been demonstrated that stimulation of RTP801L expression in macrophages increases oxLDL-induced cell death, suggesting that RTP801L gene might play an important role in arterial pathology. (Cuaz-perolin et al., REDD2 gene is upregulated by modified LDL or hypoxia and mediates human macrophage cell death. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2004 October; 24(10):1830-5. Epub 2004 Aug. 12.).
Additionally, Sofer et al (Regulation of mTOR and cell growth in response to energy stress by REDD1.; Mol Cell Biol. 2005 July; 25(14):5834-45.) have shown that RTP801 and RTP801L have non-overlapping expression patterns in adult tissues, and that RTP801L mRNA is absent in immortalized MEFs +/− Glucose and 2DG, thus demonstrating that RTP801 may function independently of RTP801L.
While RTP801 and RTP801L share sequence homology of about 65% at the amino acid level, indicating a possible similarity of function, and while the assignee of the present invention has found that both RTP801 and RTP801L interact with TSC2 and affect the mTOR pathway, the inventors of the present invention have found that the embryological expression pattern of the two polypeptides differs, and that, contrary to RTP801, RTP801L is not induced by hypoxia in all conditions which induce RTP801 expression; it is, however, induced in MEFs as a result of H2O2 treatment (hypoxia treatment), and the induction follows kinetics similar to those of RTP801 expression induction under the same conditions. Additionally, the inventors of the present invention have found that RTP801 polypeptide is more abundantly expressed than RTP801L. Thus, RTP801L may be used as a target in the treatment of conditions for which RTP801 is a target, and may have the added benefit of a similar—yet different—target.
Thus, the inventor of the instant invention has made discoveries leading to the novel concept of inhibiting gene RTP801L with the purpose of improving various disorders as detailed herein.
The following patent applications and publications give aspects of background Information.
Patent application/publication No.s EP1580263, WO2003029271, WO2001096391, WO2003087768, WO2004048938, WO2005044981, WO2003025138, WO2002068579, EP1104808 and CA2343602 all disclose a nucleic acid or polypeptide which is homologous to RTP801L.
Tzipora Shoshani, et al. Identification of a Novel Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1-Responsive Gene, RTP801, Involved in Apoptosis. MOLECULAR AND CELLULAR BIOLOGY, April 2002, p. 2283-2293; this paper, co-authored by the inventor of the present invention, details the discovery of the RTP801L gene (a then novel HIF-1-dependent gene).
Anat Brafman, et al. Inhibition of Oxygen-Induced Retinopathy in RTP801L-Deficient Mice. Invest Opthalmol V is Sci. 2004 October; 45 (10): 3796-805; also co-authored by the inventor of the present invention, this paper demonstrates that in RTP801 knock out mice, hyperoxia does not cause degeneration of the retinal capillary network.
Leif W. Ellisen, et al. REDD1, a Developmentally Regulated Transcriptional Target of p63 and p53, Links p63 to Regulation of Reactive Oxygen Species. Molecular Cell, Vol. 10, 995-1005, November, 2002; this paper demonstrates that overexpression of RTP801 (referred to therein as REDD1) leads to increased production of reactive oxygen species.
Richard D R, Berra E, and Pouyssegur J. Non-hypoxic pathway mediates the induction of hypoxia-inducible factor 1 alpha in vascular smooth muscle cells. J. Biol. Chem. 2000, Sep. 1; 275(35): 26765-71 this paper demonstrates that HIF-1-dependent transcription may be induced by excessive production of reactive oxygen species.
Rangasami T, et al., Genetic ablation of Nrf2 enhances susceptibility to cigarette smoke-induced emphysema in mice. Submitted to Journal of Clinical Investigation. This work relates to mice with a compromised antoxidant defence (due to a germline inactivation of RTP801).
Corradetti et al., The stress-inducted proteins RTP801 and RTP801L are negative regulators of the mammalian target of rapamycin pathway. J Biol Chem. 2005 March 18; 280(11):9769-72. Epub 2005 Jan. 4.
Pisani et al., SMHS1 is involved in oxidative/glycolytic-energy metabolism balance of muscle fibers. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 2005 January 28; 326(4):788-93.).
Cuaz-perolin et al., REDD2 gene is upregulated by modified LDL or hypoxia and mediates human macrophage cell death. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2004 October; 24(10):1830-5. Epub 2004 Aug. 12.).
Sofer et al., Regulation of mTOR and cell growth in response to energy stress by REDD1.
Mol Cell Biol. 2005 July; 25(14):5834-45.